Our Hygge Winter #heartsoulmindbody

Our life – mine and Tee’s and Teddy’s – is very hygge in the wintertime.

We wake up, make coffee, and make sure the fire in our living room wood stove is roaring. Teddy plays with toys near the Christmas tree and Tee cooks us pancakes for breakfast. We read books – Tee is (finally) starting Book 10 in the Inspector Gamache series, and I’m in the middle of Shrill by Lindy West. We take turns reading Teddy his favorites – The Little Blue Truck, All The World, and Knuffle Bunny, currently. There’s a blanket on every chair and a cat ready to curl up on your lap for warmth and company.

Though I prefer spring, summer, and fall, I looked forward to wintertime a lot this year. Tee gets extremely busy with the farm during the warmer weather, and it’s so nice to have her around more. We’ve gotten a lot done around the house, especially during December in preparation for family visitors for the holidays. Our weekends are more free and fun; every Friday, we figure out what fun (or, ugh, productive) things we can do with our free days. During the summer our conversations are usually more along the lines of “how the hell are we going to do everything we need to do this weekend,” with limited time for simple fun or coziness or just BEING together, with no agenda or deadline.

The slower pace of wintertime is lining up well with my intentions for 2018. Having more time and space allows me to be more intentional with my actions. Our hygge lifestyle is conducive to curling up on the couch with my journal or my laptop to write. I have successfully avoiding angst for the first five days of 2018, which is pretty much a miracle all by itself. The one intention I haven’t honored yet is to meditate, unless you count swimming laps at the Y, which I DO so really I’ve nailed all of it.

It’s a slower, gentler time of year, with more time and space to just be me. And I just love it.